Hale High School - Pompositticut Yearbook (Stow, MA)

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SALUTATOR' Teachers Parents Friends and Schoolmates Iwonder if it is really necessary for me to try to tell you in wcu 1 now uly glad we are to have you with us tonight We are very young and inexperienced mt ways of the big world with which you are so familiar and yet we have already learned how .xseless ords rea are when they try to express the deepest feelings of the heart We could not poss Jly put our thoughts into words and in any degree make you fee as we do Sf why shoul we try? And yet men and women who know what it means to be wanc' rers ov r f face of th earth tell us that there is no sweeter word in the English language tl' n the :Orr Welcome And w really do want to say it to you and to say it in the rxght way Words are elastic Of themselves they may be very rr ll and apparently woi hless but stretched out to the full extent of their capabilities they rr y be made to cover far more than we ourselves realize It really depends so much upon the motions that call thenf forth Some times our words may sound exaggerated and seem to try to say mo than our I arts may really prompt Again we may find words far too weak to convey to our friends he emotions that are flooding the innermost recesses of our being This is the position in which we find ourselves tonight To you this may we a pleasant occasion To our parents and relatives, it is an hour of pride and ffectxon t s our teachers, an hour of mingled Joy in our success and regret we trust over the necessary parting To us this is a great occasion, a red letter day one of the b lghtest spots in our l ves and it is bound to live in our memories forever And so dear friends I am not going to try to say Welcome at all Instead we are just going to put forth every effort to prove to you how m ich we thank you for coming to repay you as much as possible for the pleasure and pride yo ir presence brings to us by saying or doing something that will make you feel that you hav not ome altogether for nothing Of course I do not dare to promise you that w will do well We cannot tell that yet No one can ever be sure how things are going to turn c ut But I do promise you, on behalf of every one of the class, that we will do our best to make you glad you came Vith this one aim ever in our minds I thank you once more for coming, and 1 xtend to you in the name of the class our most grateful and sincere welcome THE PROMISE OF AMERICA The people who came to America originally came from all the other countries of the world They had one characteristic in which they differed from those who remained That was to tear themselves loose by the roots from their homes, their low ed ones, and their native lands to come to an unknown continent come because they loved freedom more than they loved security They longed for freedom accompanied by thrift and ha dship and toil, rather than a mean security with submission to overlords Our ancestors brought with them, not only the desire to find here a place where they could worship as they saw fit, but also, ideas about the kind of governxnent under which they wished to live. Even before they landed at Ply-mouth, the Pilgrims wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact, their plan for self government. Since that very beginning of that democratic society 15 ' . 1 1 - ' ' ' ' -f Q.: ' Pw- . . . . . ,Q . . , :uf , . 2 . . , x . , . A , . , . 'L B 7.22 8 . . . ., ,, IL . V .. 13 . . . . g . . 3 P '. 'L I . . . . N . . 'L 0 C - . ' . E 2 . . , . I . O I . . . . . . . . . . . . . b o 1 . . . . . . ., . . o I 9 . . . . 1 - 1 o 1 . . . -. I . I . . 1 I ' 1 . . . . - - ,, ,, sa n - 9 1 - - o . l . 1 . . . . . 1 . . . AI 1' ., - 1 . L . I R o o . . Y . V J , - . ., . . . . O 'I . . V . J 1 . 0 J . . . . . . . . . . D U . . v . . D - . . . . . . . A . . . . C

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we have accomplxshed has been done not only by our own effort but by the patlence, encour agement, and kmd mterest of those same teachers under whose guidance we have come this far For all the1r help, we are very grateful We want to thank our parents for standmg behmd us m our trlals and for glvmg us the mcentlve to go forward We appreczate the mterest the townspeople have shown 1n our school and 1ts affalrs And now my classmates, here we are at the end of our high school course We have studred together, worked together, danced together, and, on the whole, we ve loved xt We shall be sorry not to return for further hlgh school days, but we are proud to graduate from Hale Hxgh School These four years have been happy ones and through It all we ve been rowlng toward cer tam goals not dnftzng almlessly but rowmg' So, as we say Farewell let us row wxth our hearts From comprormse and thmgs half done, Keep me wlth stern and stubborn prlde And when, at last, the fxght as won, God keep me stxll unsatxsfled Wllle na Peck OFFICERS OF TI-IE CLASS OF 1949 Presldent Ralph Smxth Vlce Presldent I-Iexdx Peck Secretary Marjorze Gray Treasurer Eleanor McColl Student Counc1l Representatwe Bruce Maclver Advxsor Mrs Kathleen Platt CLASS MOTTO Rowmg not Drxftmg CLASS FLOWER Yellow Carnation CLASS COLORS Blue and Gold CLASS MARSHALL Wxlllam Hzbbard 14 . ' . - . U . . . , . . ,, ,,, . earnest purpose toward those ever-receding shores and keep the intense words of the poet in

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there have been certain ideals to which our forefathers adhered traditions that they were will ing to live for fight for and in many cases even die for Their first and foremost concern was freedom of the mind freedom to think without fear freedom to act in accordance with their considered Judgment They did not look first for ease comford and convenience They believed fervently in the right to work to enjoy the products of their own labor and to receive accord ing to merit These are the foundation stones of what has become known as The Promise of America The inhabitants of the first thirteen colonies had to fight for their independence But they were determined and the Revolutionary War resulted in American independence These thir teen states sought to survive without the benefit of a central government There were men in Massachusetts as in other states who believed that to Join a Federal Union was to surrender much liberty in order to get along with the members of the pact Unfortunately a civil war had to be fought to settle final arguments We have a growing concept of the one ness of the world We are commg to it by the knowledge that the nations of the world are dependent upon one an other not only for prosperity but also actually for survival Here in America we have a system of free constitutional government Under that system we have gained the greatest religious freedom the greatest political freedom, the greatest agricultural freedom the greatest labor freedom the greatest industrial freedom ever known by any people We have the greatest productive capacity of any nation We have the best system of highways and railroads the finest schools and colleges we have the highest living standards the highest wages the best working hours and mcomparably the best working conditions of any people anywhere on the globe The poorest of our people live better than the moderately well to do or even the wealthy in most countries we wish and vote for whom we desire There are places where the people don t have these privileges In America when workers go on strike a meeting is called and terms are discuss ed In Russia a firing squad ends all strikes almost before they start In the United States if a man wishes to leave his Job for a better one, he leaves In Russia he has a choice of two things He may remain on the Job or he may take a trip to Siberia Only a short time ago some of the Boston papers carried the story of the displaced person who, upon his arrival in America. told of his mother s last request before he left Europe She asked that her son never write to her from America This woman, an inhabitant of a Russian controlled country lived in con stant fear that the Russians might find out about her son in America That would mean certain death for this mother America is the land of golden opportunity, and we must keep it that way This has to be done by the sweat of our brow and by the energy and initiative which the good Lord has given us President Conant of Harvard once said One of the highly significant ideals of the American nation has long been equality of opportunity Our educational system our political institutions and our social ideals form a closely interwoven pattern Equality of opportunity could be realized only in a political democracy it would have meaning only in a competitive society in which private ownership and the profit motive were accepted as basic principle Opportunity still knocks and will enter still if we give it half a chance We, the class of 1949, are graduating from high school at a time when the world is un settled. We, the youth of today, are the leaders of tomorrow. We cannot be certain what kind of a world we face today, or what kind of a life hes ahead. But one thing is certain. We are not going to be bored: and because we are Americans we are not going to be afraid. Marjorie Gray 16 . . . ' . . . - . . , . . , . . . . . , . . , . . . . . , . . , . - . ' . . . . I . - ' . , . . . . I I I . I l U . . . l . . . l 1 . . I . . , . S . . . . ' . ' . . . . We may attend the church of our choice, choose the school we want to go to, work where . , . . , u p . . D . . . . , . ' . . . D . . - . . . . O . , . .